1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to land anchors that are turned into a beach or into soil for holding a boat to the shore, or as an anchor point for pulling a vehicle.
2. Prior Art
Previously land anchors, and boat shore anchors in particular, have generally consisted of large heavy weights for positioning on a shore that are connected to a floating device, such as a boat, by a line. The function of such anchors, like the invention, is to prohibit a floatation device, such as a boat, from floating away from the shore. Additionally, the anchor of the invention is useful for providing a land anchor point for pulling an item, such as an ATV, towards it. The majority of boat anchors are designed to work by submerging the anchor into water that attaches, by a line, chain, or the like, to a floating device. Such anchors have protruding arms or mechanical devices designed to either dig into the lake or sea bottom or catch outcrops at the bottom of the body of water. Land anchors are usually posts arranged to be pounded into the ground that include an attachment device, such as an ring, eyelet, pulley, or the like, that a cable is attached to, that has been un spooled from a winch mounted to the vehicle, such as an ATV, whereby, with the winch operated, the cable is reeled in, pulling the vehicle to the post.
In practice, an anchor, like the invention, is utilized by a water craft that has been moved near to a shore or beach that does not have a permanently fixed structure. I such situation, traditional anchors are not satisfactory to stabilize a boat to the shore. For such shore anchoring, where permanently fixed structures are not available, boat owners have generally attempted to secure the boat to the shore in variety of ways, that, in practice, may not adequately hold the boat, allowing it to drift away and/or be damaged. A general practice for securing a boat to a shore or beach has consisted of hammering a large stake or stakes into the shore or beach for receiving lines from the boat. Such stakes, however, have substantial drawbacks in that, unless the stakes are driven very deep, it or they can easily break free failing to adequately secure the boat. Whereas, if the stakes are deeply driven, removing the stakes takes great effort.
Another common practice as has been employed by boat owners to anchor a boat to a shore is to take a traditional boat anchor, place it into a hole and fill the hole with sand from the shore. This method has the same limitations as driving stakes into the ground. To properly secure the boat, the hole has to be deep enough to provide enough resistance to the forces as are applied to the boat, such as tides, winds and wave action, to hold the boat in place. This is also true for land anchors where, if a stake, or the like, is driven into the ground and connected to a cable end that is winched in to move a vehicle, such as an ATV, towards it, the stake will pull out of the ground. The present invention to provide a reliable land anchor, includes an auger mounted onto a shaft that is fitted through a sleeve. The shaft is turned by a handle or motor driven ratchet arrangement, turning the auger into the ground. The sleeve includes at least a pair of blades or fins that each project outwardly from opposite sides of the sleeve outer surface. In operation, the auger to pulls the sleeve and fins into the ground. The auger depth, connection of a mooring line to a bottom end of the sleeve, all contribute to maintaining the assembly in the ground when it is subjected to a load, such as a boat connected through a line to the sleeve base, or the pulling load exerted through a winch cable attached to the sleeve base end surface for pulling a vehicle, such as an ATV, towards the assembly. The invention, provides for mounting a line to a base end of the sleeve that is pulled into the ground by turning the auger, and that line buried alongside of the sleeve. When a pulling force is exerted thereon, that force first pulls the line towards the applied force. The stretched line then tends to try to pull the anchor bottom end through the sand or dirt with the blades or fins resisting that movement. In practice, the anchor will hold fast against a force that is up to twice the load the anchor will hold against when the line is connected to a mounting ring located at the top of the sleeve.
Additionally, unlike prior anchors, the anchor of the present invention optionally includes blades or fins as are mounted to the anchor sleeve that face oppositely, and form an angle of less than one hundred eighty degrees towards the pulling force, providing a cupping action when a pulling force is applied at the sleeve bottom end. That cupping action tends to compress the ground ahead of the anchor towards the pulling force, holding the anchor in place, discouraging the anchor lower end from being pulled out of the ground.
Also unlike prior anchors, the line end mounting to the lower end of the sleeve that is pulled into the ground by the auger, positions the line alongside of the anchor of the invention to be proximate to the ground surface. That line attachment causes the line to straight at an angle from the anchor shaft from its attachment point towards the pulling force, holding it in place against being pulled out of the ground even with an application of a pulling force through the line that is greater than twice an anchor where the line is attached to the top of the sleeve will sustain. Additionally, the present invention includes a mooring line locking device for prohibiting an anchor line pulled through the lower line mounting from passing back towards the item to be held or drawn thereto, and is easily released.
For various reasons a boat or land anchor may be required to be moved several times in a short period of time. Prior to the invention, the early anchors set out above have required considerable effort and time to install and remove, and none have provided the stability to anchor a heavy object, such as a boat, or to act as an anchor point for a winch cable to draw a vehicle, such as an ATV, towards the anchor.